Pieces recovered from the wreck of the Empress of Ireland, one of Canada’s worst maritime tragedies, are being sold through an auction next week at Lunds Auctioneers and Appraisals.
Running lights, dinner plates, a nutcracker, a concert program and passenger list, a porthole, voyage diaries and a wooden travel trunk are among 60 items on display at 926 Fort St. prior to the Tuesday auction.
The ship went down on the St. Lawrence River on May 29, 1914, with the loss of 1,012 passengers and crew.
Peter Boyle, president of Lunds, said the collection will attract those interested in the Empress of Ireland and in Canadian Pacific Railway items. Estimated values range from $100 for pieces such as sheet music to $5,000 to $10,000 for running lights.
There were 1,477 people on board the Canadian Pacific Railway ocean liner early in the morning of May 29, 1914, when it collided with the Storstad, a Norwegian coal ship, in fog on the St. Lawrence River.
The Empress of Ireland sank in 14 minutes.
- - -
Chris Klausen talks about the ship: video on YouTube
Chris Klausen's Empress of Ireland webpage
Empress of Ireland, National Historic Site
- - -
Today, the wreck is off Rimouski, Quebec, on its starboard side at a 65-degree angle, resting 45 metres below the surface. The wreck and debris around it have been designated as a National Historic Site.
In its prime, the vessel made just over 90 trips across the Atlantic, bringing about 117,000 immigrants to Canada, preserving its place in this country’s heritage.
Former Saanich Peninsula resident Chris Klausen, who owns the Empress of Ireland memorabilia, put together the collection over time, obtaining pieces from different sources.
“Those are Canadian national treasures in my opinion,” said Klausen, who has returned to his original home of New York.
Klausen’s collection went on display in 2014 at the Maritime Museum of B.C. in Victoria to recognize the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking. He said the collection has been “fluid” as he changed its contents over time.
The 100-year anniversary was marked by Canada Post stamps, Royal Canadian Mint silver coins and other exhibits and memorials.
Empress of Ireland items are allowed to be sold because they were collected before the site was officially protected, Klausen said, adding many pieces were collected in the 1970s.
An export permit would be required if items were to leave the country, he said, although he is hoping they will remain in Canada.
Klausen calls the Empress of Ireland disaster “Canada’s Titanic.” About 1,500 people lost their lives when the Titanic sank in 1912 after the luxury vessel hit an iceberg south of Newfoundland on its maiden voyage.
Klausen said he remains interested in maritime history, but now that he is back in the United States, his attention is turning to the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner that sank off the south coast of Ireland in May 1915 after it was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine, killing more than 1,190 people. The Lusitania was on its way to Liverpool from New York.
* To watch Chris Klausen speaking about the ship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWGb-9oUtBo
* Klausen’s Empress of Ireland webpage: http://www.empress-of-ireland-klausen.com/
* Ship page on the National Historic Site: http://lieuxpatrimoniaux.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=15164
